This blog is an exploration of principled problem solving which is an initiative at Guilford College encouraging a focus of people's abilities and experiences toward solving real-world problems under the guidance of the college’s core values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship.

December 2012

12/14/2012

As an Multicultural Leadership Scholars Program (MLSP) Scholar, I meet once a week with my peers to discuss diversity within the Guilford community, and how we can improve our leadership skills within this community. On Sunday, October 28th, rather than meeting in our regular place in the MED, our group met in the Carnegie Room at Hege Library to see a presentation by the Friends Historical Collection (which I knew nothing about). As it turns out, we were attending the first installation of The Listening Project, Guilford’s Integration: 1962 Before and After. To be honest, I had heard little about the project, but I did recognize the name from a series of events during Homecoming Weekend celebrating 50 years of integration. Sure, it is safe to say I was not ecstatic to hear I was required to sit through an oral history presentation on a beautiful Sunday evening. As a matter of fact, I was quite upset. But then something interesting happened… (*gasps, whispers, elbow nudges*). I learned that, as unfortunate as it may sound, Guilford College has been lying to me.

Racists went to Guilford College. That’s right, I went there. Racists went to Guilford College, long before there was ever a Bryan Incident or rough-neck footballers rolling through campus on 26” Asanti wheels. During Rudy Gordh’s oral history of the 1960’s here at Guilford, he brought to the audience’s attention that there were a series of unfortunate events that followed the integration of Guilford’s student population. For those of you who do not know, Rudy Gordh is a white male from North Carolina; unfortunately, modern-day television has programmed me to the point where Rudy is exactly what I see in my mind when I hear the word racist. What I find so interesting about this is that he was the first out of four interviewees to even acknowledge that there was any sort of racial tension on campus during the early stages of integration. The first man interviewed was James McCorkle, the first person to be integrated at Guilford! Would he not have something to say about racial tension if there was any at all? Rudy said there was a cross burned into a mattress of a young man outside of a dormitory in response to a march for integration in downtown Greensboro. Would James have not been compelled to tell this story? According to his own oral history, he was sheltered while on campus and never saw any sort of racial tensions while attending Guilford. None at all!

What I found even more interesting was that the individuals who were harassing liberal students were actually jocks who lived in English Hall. This immediately reminded me of Guilford current “Athlete / Non-athlete divide”. It seems that even in Guilford’s history, its student-athletes were overwhelmingly more conservative and resistant to change than traditional, non-athlete students. Moreover, these differences create a barrier, and instead of bringing the Guilford community closer together, it divides it down the middle. Sure, many people see the collective Guilford as a community, but there are handfuls of divisions that have lasted over time and remain among our student population. In order to overcome the divisions, rather than sweep them under the rug they have been in the past, embrace them. Confront them. Without doing so, we will let them grow.

12/12/2012

Jeanne Robertson is an extremely accomplished lady. Earlier this semester, all the current athletes of Guilford College packed into the gymnasium to hear her speak. Jeanne, as a professional speaker and humorist was very prepared to take on quite a tough crowd of exhausted student athletes on a Sunday night. She united every single student athlete in a way that had never been done before, through smiles and laughs. The soccer team laughed with the football team, the golf team laughed with the tennis team, and even the swimming team chuckled a few laughs alongside the basketball players.

Athletes are considered to be extremely divided from the rest of the population at Guilford. However, has anyone ever thought about how isolated all the teams are from each other? I have been a college athlete for two years at Guilford College and never have a laughed with the football players…at least not until tonight and all because of Jeanne Robertson. She was able to establish community for some of the most unthinkable groups and cliques of people on campus. Even though we are all considered athletes and assumed to be the best of friends, we hardly get along with other teams. Jeanne absolutely dismantled this schema and united the entire crowd, which shocked everyone.

To be honest, and I am sure many of the athletes would concur, I was not looking forward to spending my Sunday evening with the rest of the jocks listening to someone who probably was not going to be very funny. I couldn’t have been more wrong, I left the building enjoying every minute and walked away with something very valuable. I walked away with a genuine moment in which I felt connected to rest of the athletes at Guilford College.

Everyone has very loose definition of the meaning of community and I have a unique definition all to myself. However, if you don’t consider what we had on the Night of November 4 a community, then you have no concept of the truth behind the word.

12/11/2012

This year's election saw no shortage of hot button domestic issues; covering everything from drone strikes in the Middle East to women's reproductive rights in the United States. During a time when many people have ended up dividing themselves behind partisan politics, the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at Guilford chose to address these and other topics in a community panel discussion.

Led by Julie Winterich, Maria Rosales, Lisa McLeod and student Anny Bolgiano, the event discussed these ideas in an open and frank manner, analyzing the multiple sides of the issues that many people don't really consider. For an election so full of energy and intensity, the room was light when I walked in that Wednesday afternoon. However, when it was time to talk, we got down to business quickly. Covering issues such as legislation by men on women's reproductive rights, same sex marriage battles in multiple states and how the distribution of wealth in Ameica negatively affects women. Soon though, the discussions turned away from surface level ponderings of these problems and into deeper analyses of social power structures, race relations in America and feminist views on presidential candidate foriegn policy. When asked a question about racial perception in the debates, Maria raised a truly interesting point, saying that Barack Obama's racial identity to the public informs their perception of him, feeding into a white dominant society. "When he attacks and is forceful, he fits the "angry black man" stereotype. When he is docile and doesn't go after Romney as much, he's portrayed as weak and not seen as a 'real man'."Other topics of discussion raised were ways to create effective foreign policy that doesn't rely on the exploitation of other nation's women and children, male legislators passing laws that directly affect women without listening to female constituents, the role of the First Lady and how its traditional "supportive wife" mindset has been subverted, and pay rate disparity in genders and races.

Many people from all different types of political affiliations on campus came to and engaged in the discussion. I felt a true sense of community in the room as I participated and learned during this panel. I feel that this is how Guilford encompasses community in the most effective way for me. Guilford has a tradition of holding forums and public discussions on campus, informed by Quaker business meeting practice that allows for an open space for everyone to share their thoughts and feelings on a subject. These forums and discussions are where I feel community is best represented on Guilford's campus. Despite our political affiliations, a room full of students and faculty was able to come together and hold a discussion about issues in this election; to talk and learn from one another in a setting outside of the classroom. I feel like when I have discussions like this I'm really only in a class that focuses on the topic of gendered issues. I value the learning and education I have gained from these discussions. I feel they are just as valuable to my experience as a student searching for a true community. To have an experience with the greater Guilford community about these issues and to hear their voices on what was happening in the election was a really wonderful and refereshing experience.

12/10/2012

As I write this blog, I reflect back to the day I walked into a closet sized room awaiting my fate. I was afraid I was overqualified for the position because of my many leadership experiences but I sat down anyway. The questions began to pour out and I couldn’t have been more confident. I shook a couple hands and was told I would hear from them soon. A few days later I received a congratulatory email. I was the new Second Year Experience intern and I was more than excited for the upcoming year. Finally, a chance for me to become more involved at Guilford! I could finally use my charisma and increase program initiatives at the same time.

In addition to keeping up with Guilford’s core values, this year, I planned to make the third annual D.I.V.E. into Guilford Summit even more successful than it has been in the previous two years. D.I.V.E. stands for Diversity, Integrity, Values, and Excellence, common themes to which Guilford and the Second Year Experience team are committed. The goal of the summit is to encompass various key aspects of Guilford that students in their first and second year need exposure to in order to develop into strong members of the community. With the partnership of another student organization, the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement, we provided an enriching opportunity for students to explore the themes of D.I.V.E. in an experimental and enticing manner.

Particularly notable at the conference was the keynote speaker, Jack Gottlieb. Gottlieb works for Collegiate EmPowerment, which serves over two million students at more than two thousand schools. The attendees and I really enjoyed his spunky and energetic being which really served to empower students to maximize their time in college. Though I was busy running around making sure everything was going smoothly, I managed to sneak away long enough to hear his segments. I even began to think about myself as a student. How can I optimize my time at Guilford? What needs to happen over the next year for me to feel happy and successful about my progress? Such questions began to come to mind and the words that followed were ‘vision’ and ‘action.’

In life, I constantly find myself internalizing a bunch of questions. What will I wear? What will I eat? Where will I go? What will I do when I get there? Planning is good but I find that I often get clouded by my own intentions. The real question I need to ask myself is, how will I commit to the things I am passionate about? What should I continue to do that is going well? What am I not doing that needs to be done? Who would have thought that I would gain so much insight at the opening session? I really began to think about what meaningful concepts I could use to help strengthen my engagement at Guilford and beyond. But first I would have to think of ways to manage my time better.

In a world that seems to never stop, it can often seem like there are never enough hours in the day. My goal setting and organizational techniques seem to fade on occasion. I began to think, even if there were more hours in the day, I would always find another activity to fill the time. The message I took away from his session was that a plan is just a plan if you don’t act on it. If you want to get something done you have to commit to it, no one will be there to hold your hand every step of the way.

12/07/2012

The current debate on campus is whether or not Guilford should go Greek. The overall mood on Facebook was a resounding NO. The mood from others was a little more mixed. So, in true Guilford fashion, CAB hosted a debate inviting members from each side to come and present their views. One of the biggest points was how the initiation of a Greek system here at Guilford would affect our school's Core Values of Community, Diversity, Excellence, Equality, Integrity, Justice, and Stewardship.

The debate was supposed to be over the traditional Greek system, however, the Pro side came to the debate with their own version of a Greek system which took aspects of the traditional Greek system and jumbled them around in order to better suit Guilford.

The Con side, presented by Tim Leisman and Patrick Withrow, stated that Fraternities and Sororities invite their members, thus choosing who does and does not get in. "That's not equality, that's not stewardship, that's not justice."

The Pro side, presented by Eamon Deeley and Alex Morales, disagree saying that their version of a Greek System would expand community, networking, and philanthropy for the school. Providing more social activities, especially on the weekend, which would invite people from different social groups to come together when they otherwise might not. After all, "What's Guilford about if we are not about Community?"

After so long, the debate became very sedated. We were all agreeing!! A traditional Greek system is not the right system for Guilford. Rather, what Guilford needs, if this is the direction we are headed, is more of an expanded club system.

Like all great Guilfordians, we came to the consensus that Greekfordians just doesn't work!

12/03/2012

A few weeks ago, I began attending Serendipity Committee in
support of my best friend who leads the meetings. The Serendipity Committee is a committee
which meets once a week on Wednesdays from 8:30pm-9:30pm in order to discuss,
vote, and plan the entire Guilford
College weekend community
festival, Serendipity. However,
with my recent membership of this committee I have come across controversies by
listening to the student body at Guilford
College when dealing or
talking about Serendipity. All of these controversies
could easily be solved or at the least heard by the committee if only those who
feel free to voice their opinions in the community, would also voice their
opinions in the committee.

The most interesting part behind the Serendipity Committee
is that it is entirely student led and that there is no application process or
screening for students in order to participate.
This means that the committee is open to anyone who wishes to
give their opinion. In fact, oftentimes
friends who are walking by drop into the conversation for a few minutes, give
their opinions on the matter, and carry on with their night. While this allows students who are busy to
still participate in the committee, it becomes very tedious as a lot of
discussions which already took place in past meetings need to be summarized for
these “drop-ins” so that they will be on the same page as the rest of the
committee. These summarizations add up
and waste a lot of time that could be spent discussing further plans for
Serendipity. Another frustrating factor
behind the committee is that students post their ideas and band suggestions on the
Serendipity Facebook page but physical participation is still extremely
low. Maybe the issue is that the
committee is not held during community hours or that the committee is not
advertised well enough. My response to
these issues is that many people have been told and have seen the times of
committee, which are posted on Facebook, but yet there is still minimal
participation from the student body. In
fact, I can count only six members of the student body who are consistently
present at meetings. These six students
have the responsibility of satisfying over two thousand students.

The most daunting aspect behind this minimal participation
at the Serendipity Committee is that the Serendipity festival is seen as the
largest community based event every year at Guilford College. While it is a beautiful site to see the
traditional student body come together for this three night and three day
celebration of community and Guilford
College, I feel that many students feel as if it just falls together or that they could not be
bothered to participate. This deception
behind many of the students cannot be that large seeing how so many have posted
to the Facebook page, know that it is a student led festival, and feel free to
voice their opinions (just not in committee where it counts). In fact, I am baffled by all that the
committee this year has already accomplished but yet there is plenty more to
be done, as it takes approximately eight months to plan for this one magical weekend.

After the 2012 Serendipity last year, I found that many
students, including myself, complained and would have revised the festival in
some way or another. Therefore I have
decided to immerse myself in the festival by being an active member of the
committee. I encourage any student who
has dissatisfaction with Serendipity, or any area of interest,
to join the committee or group in charge in order to voice your opinions on the subject, because if you don’t then no one will for you.